SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - For more than 50 years, helping people achieve their goals has been the foundation of Sacramento-area real estate agent Ron Nakano's professional career.

That foundation was established when he moved with his single mother and four sisters from the Hilltop neighborhood of Richmond to the Meadowview neighborhood of Sacramento. His parents were Sumao Nakano and Fusako Yamamoto. They met at Camp Amache, also known as the Granada Relocation Center, near Granada, Colorado. Amache was one of ten incarceration sites established by the War Relocation Authority during World War II to unjustly incarcerate Japanese Americans. 

More than 10,000 people, most of them American citizens, were incarcerated at Amache from 1942 to 1945.

Sumao wanted to prove he was a loyal American, so he joined the U.S. Army while at Camp Amache and served in Texas training soldiers in anti-aircraft operations. He is buried in the veterans cemetery in Daly City.

His five children were struggling financially when they arrived in  Sacramento in 1970. Their mother, Fusako, was able to obtain government assistance to attend nursing school, and Ron entered John F. Kennedy High School as a sophomore. He and his older sister were sad because they had left all of their friends in Richmond.

A year later, he had a motorbike and was working at McDonald's on Freeport Boulevard near C.K. McClatchy High School. By the time he was 17, he was the swing manager, and he kept that job until he earned his Associate of Arts (AA) degree from Sacramento City College. At the end of his shifts, he would take a bag of leftover food and place it closer to the Union Pacific Railroad tracks than to the McDonald's dumpster.

He always assumed homeless people were taking the food. While being interviewed for this story, he realized it might have been students from the Curtis Park area who used the shortcut through the train yard to attend California Middle School.

Ron said he was blessed by God to playtime trumpet as a section in JFK High School's marching band. He believes band director Nicholas A. Angiulo made a real difference and a joy to play in the band.

Angiulo had a difficult life as a teenager and got his start as a trumpeter in Canton, Ohio, at age 14 because his uncle convinced a local bar owner that Nick should be in the band. Nick made high school a fun place to be for a large number of students.

After earning his AA degree, Ron headed to San Jose State University. While there, he received an offer to purchase an ownership interest in a Sambo's Restaurant. Two men, Sam Battistone Sr. and Newell Bohnett, combined portions of their names to form the restaurant chain Sambo's.

Ron said, "It is ironic that two fellows took the first name of one founder and the first two letters of the other founder's last name to name their restaurant, only to discover that many people associated the name with The Story of Little Black Sambo."

Ron learned he was too young to accept the offer because he was only 18 and investors had to be at least 21. When he turned 21, he acquired a 20 percent ownership interest in a Sambo's restaurant in Gilroy and began working every day of the year, from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., then returning from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

There were no locks on the doors, but one Christmas he locked the restaurant and took all of his employees out for a three-hour celebration without the company's knowledge.

Although he never completed his degree at San Jose State, he learned valuable business lessons. In 1978, he began his sales career at Downtown Ford in Sacramento. During his first year, he was named Rookie of the Year. His success continued as he later earned Salesman of the Year honors and was eventually promoted to Assistant Sales Manager.

In 1980, he obtained his real estate sales license, knowing that one day he wanted to pursue a career in real estate. He earned his real estate license first and then made what he considers his best investment when he obtained his marriage license on August 25, 1982. He and his wife, Jean, have been married for more than four decades.

In 1984, he began a 24-year career with Toyota. Starting at Florin Road Toyota in Sacramento as Assistant Fleet Manager, he later served as Fleet Manager and Finance Manager before becoming Sales Manager. Over the next 14 years, he held sales management positions at Florin Road Toyota, Elk Grove Toyota, and Hanlees Toyota in Davis.

Throughout his automotive career, he received numerous honors, including Toyota's Master Sales Manager Award and recognition as one of the Top 10 managers in customer satisfaction in Northern California.

The experience he gained helping customers in the automobile industry became the foundation for his success in real estate.

He believes that treating people fairly, competently, and honestly is the only way to conduct business. His goal is to create clients for life by consistently exceeding expectations.

During challenging real estate markets and difficult economic times, he has worked with many sellers, including some facing financial hardship, to help them achieve their real estate goals. He has also assisted buyers in taking advantage of favorable market conditions, including low interest rates and affordable home prices.

He became a specialist in short sales. In 2007, his first thought was to "save a home rather than sell a home." Having previously helped people obtain interest-only loans, he found himself doing more saving than selling.

His efforts have earned him the trust of numerous clients and customers throughout the Sacramento area.

Reflecting on his career, he says he is grateful for the trust his customers and clients have placed in him over the years and looks forward to continuing to earn that trust in the future.

Ron said, "My goal is to create clients for life, and this is only possible through going above and beyond their expectations. Average service is not enough."

On March 24 of this year, a corporation named Ron Nakano & Associates Realty was licensed in the State of California. Ron decided it was time to work for himself.

Kenny Hoang is Ron's associate. In addition to being a real estate agent, he is also a licensed general contractor.

Ron believes, "Through honest hard work and through the grace of god anything  good is possible."